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Sharp Steel beneath a Sunless Sky
Lore Drops Ghosts During the Lich King's decimation of Darklar, the barriers between life and death were almost completely destroyed by necromantic energies. As a result, the deathlands are now covered in hordes of vengeful spirits and other unspeakable horrors. Anyone who dies on Darklar rises from the body three days later as a ghost. A ghost may only maintain it's sanity for a finite time before succumbing to its lust for life essence. This descent to madness may be avoided if ghost possesses a specially-prepared soulless human body (a hollow), or an advanced mechanical construct (a hull). When anyone dies in Duskwall, the Spirit Bells at Bellweather Crematorium ring, heard only by those near the site of death, the Deathseeker Crows, and the Spirit Wardens. A Deathseeker Crow leaves the bellfry, and hones in on the body, leading the Spirit Wardens to the site so they may retrieve the body and dissolve it in energised electroplasm before the ghost can rise. Leviathans Ghosts and restless spirits were not the only creatures released when the Gates of Death were shattered. The Lich King was assisted in his efforts by ancient and terrible demons, the most powerful and terrifying of which are the Leviathans. Leviathans are titanic creatures which now prowl the inky depths of the Void Sea. They dwarf the largest iron steamships, and only a fraction of their scale can be seen when they breach the surface of the water. Despite their terrifying visage and incredible destructive power, the Leviathans are a crucial part of continued life on Darklar. Leviathan blood is hyper-energised with highly-concentrated electro-plasm, distilled from the vapour of the aether. It is this blood that is sought after by the Leviathan Hunters, who brave passage to the frozen northern reaches of the Void Sea to obtain it. Leviathan blood is refined into pure electro-plasm, and used to power the protective lightning barriers, the electro-rail system, and the radiant energy farms which allow life to continue to survive on Darklar. Spectrology, Alchemy and Spark-craft A number of unusual and highly-technical crafts are practiced in Duskwall. Foremost among these are Spectrology, Alchemy and Spark-craft. Spectrology is the field of occult knowledge relating to ghosts and spirits, and is taught at the College of Immortal Studies at Doskvol Academy. Foremost amongst its adepts are Whispers: highly-skilled occultists who are practiced at interacting with the alternate, parallel dimension known as the 'ghost field'. Other spectrological specialists include Rail-jacks, toughened combatants employed to guard the electro-rail trains from the spirits of the Deathlands, and Spirit Wardens, anonymous bronze-masked individuals tasked with destroying corpses and rogue spirits. Alchemy relates to the distillation and concoction of strange chemical mixtures, and is taught at both Doskvol Academy and Charterhall University. The processes practiced and studied by alchemists allow the processing of Leviathan blood, the purification of void-water into drinkable water, the creation of various drugs and pharmaceuticals, and the growth of strange hybrid plants in the Radiant Energy farms. Spark-craft is a fusion of spectrology and alchemy, utilising a arcane, chemical and metallurgical knowledge to create and maintain complex mechanical devices. Notable examples including the lightning barrier surrounding Duskwall, the electroplasmic generators which power them, and Hulls: advanced mechanical shells which are operated by confined spirits. The Sparkwrights of Duskwall operate a massive workshop, factory and design facility in the district of Coalridge. Lights in the Sky The sky above Darklar is almost completely obscured by a deep, inky blackness that stretches across the heavens, with only a weak light bleeding through this barrier at dawn and dusk. As a result, most plant-life cannot survive, except in Radiant Energy farms, illuminated by large trees and vines infused with highly-energised electroplasm. These groves, along with fungi, moss and various sea-life, provide most of Duskwall's food. At night, the ghostly image of Darklar's single moon looms large and pale behind the darkness, and seems to be growing larger with each passing year, drawn towards the planet by some unknown force. During certain phases of its transit, multiple images of the moon appear alongside it as if reflecting off the facets of an enormous crystalline dome. The public thoroughfares of Duskwall are illuminated by electro-plasmic lights, however a small hand lantern is usually a required tool in everyday life, and smoke from torches, chimneys and cook-fires choke the air and have covered the city in ash and soot. Areas of illicit dealing often enfore a "no-lanterns" policy, to allow business to be carried out in anonymous darkness. Obscured by the darkness in the sky, the weak lights of familiar constellations can sometimes be seen at night. In the dark expanse of the Void Sea, however, one can see millions of tiny pinpoints of light, somehow clearly visible deep beneath the waves. Those who sail the ocean are sometimes driven mad by the seemingly infinite expanse of the starry void beneath them. Law and Order The highest power in Duskwall is held by the Lord Governor: representative of the Immortal Emperor and Commander of the Imperial Military garrison. The Lord Governor chairs the City Council: six nobles in charge of legislation, ordinance, public works and taxation. City Council seats are appointed by vote of the City Council itself. The Magistrates of Duskwall issue warrants, conduct trials and pronounce judgements (independent of any jury), and are appointed by the City Council. The streets are patrolled by the City Watch, or "Bluecoats", who also operate Ironhook Prison. The Bluecoats are under general orders to enforce the law, but in practice are corrupt and needlessly violent, serving the needs of the rich and powerful nobility of Duskwall in suppressing the lower classes. Independent of the Bluecoats are the Inspectors, or "Constables", who are appointed by the Lord Governor to investigate crimes and present evidence to Magistrates for trials. Inspectors are usually foreigners with no close ties to Duskwall, and in contrast to the Bluecoats are famously incorruptible. Spirituality in Duskwall The state religion of the Empire is The Church of the Ecstasy of the Flesh (or simply, the Church of Ecstasy). The church honors the life of the physical body, and abhors the corrupted spirit world. Zealous believers volunteer to be 'hollowed' in order to become purified. The church's chief cathedral in Duskwall is The Sanctorum, a towering gothic edifice of buttresses and spires, commissioned by the Emperor during his last visit over 500 years ago. While Spirit Wardens are commissioned by the Emperor to seek out and contain rogue spirits, common people prefer to seek out a Gondolier. The Gondoliers are venerated by the common folk as custodians of ancient occult knowledge and lore, and have extensive knowledge of the labyrinthine sewers and canals beneath Duskwall. They are beloved and respected by most citizens; even the usually indiscriminate Bluecoats. Many citizens still cling to memories of the Forgotten Gods worshipped before the fall of Darklar. They go about their daily business, clutching their spiritbane charms which mumbling half-remembered invocations to these deities. Rumours exist of a mysterious cult with members amongst the nobility known as the Path of Echoes, although their beliefs and motives are unknown. People of Darklar The most common group present in Duskwall is the Akorosi, the pale-skinned, dark haired people who share the same lineage as the Immortal Emperor. The nobility of Duskwall are primarily Akorosi, and the most common spoken language in the Empire is Akorosian (or "Imperial"). Second are the Skovlanders, the shorter, stockier indigenous people of the cold northern continent. During the 46-year-long Unity War, the Skovlanders rose up in rebellion against Imperial control after most of the Empire's incredibly toxic leviathan-blood processing was moved to their cities. The war ended with Skovlandian surrender after their Queen, Alayne, and her husband were killed by an assassin. During this war, many Skovlandian refugees relocated to Duskwall, where they are still treated as traitors by many Akorosi. Third are the Iruvians, a dark-skinned people from the remains of the warmer southern continent. The powerful and wealthy Iruvian nobility claim their position through an ancient pact with the Emperor, and maintain an influential consulate in Duskwall. They also fund and maintain their own Leviathan Hunter ships. Other peoples represented in Duskwall include the dark-skinned and long-haired Severosi: whose tribal roots are still represented in isolated pockets, scavenging with their ghost-hunting horses in the Deathlands; the Tycherosi: mysterious individuals from the far-northern reaches of the Void Sea who are said to have demonic heritage; and the people of the Dagger Isles: free-spirited corsairs and merchants who spend most of their lives on ships aboard the Void Sea. People and Factions (Part I) The Hive is an Imperially-recognised merchant guild, led by Guild Master Djera Maha. Their huge conglomeration of legitimate businesses and trade enterprises is simply a cover however, for their much more profitable trade in contraband (spirit essences, drugs, etc.) and human trafficking. The Gray Cloaks are a crew of former Bluecoats who turned to crime after they were expelled from the City Watch for burning down a Watch station in a drunken stupor. The Gray Cloaks have attracted other former Bluecoats to their ranks, and now make a living as a sizable gang of trained and brutal enforcers. The Deathlands Scavengers are a group of desperate freelancers, made up mostly of condemned prisoners "mercifully" sentenced to exile in the Deathlands rather than execution. They roam the wasteland beyond the lightning barriers, doing their best to survive by hunting the strange mutated creatures that somehow survived the cataclysm. People and Factions (Part II) The Scurlock family came to Duskwall four-and-a-half centuries ago, building a great manor house in the Six Towers District, before some curse or calamity befell their line. The current patriarch, Lord Scurlock, has presided over the families interests for over a century-and-a-half, rumored to be immortal like the Emperor. Lord Scurlock is nowadays only rarely seen in society, and the manor house has fallen into disrepair. The Silver Nails are a company of Severosi mercenaries who fought for the Empire against Skovlandian rebels during the Unity War. They are renowned ghost-killers, preferring to hunt atop their Severosian horses - fearless, swift, and trained to track down and battle spirits. Each member wears a ring fashioned from a silver nail. While Skovlandian refugees are generally mistrusted and poorly-treated in Duskwall, one individual has made a name for himself as a ruthless and savage gangster. Ulf Ironborn leads a brutal group of thugs in the Coalridge district, unleashing vicious and bloodthirsty retribution on those Akorosi who dare cross his path. Plot Summary Session 1 (31/10/2018) After the death of the Crows' leader Rodric, and the succession of his second-in-command Lyssa, fighting has broken out between the various gangs in the Crow's Foot district of Duskwall. The Brass Door Rat's broke away from the Crows some time ago, forming their own gang of mercenaries/thugs for hire. Seeking to take advantage of the situation in Crow's Foot, the Brass Door Rats accepted a job from the Lampblacks (through their leader, Bazso Baz) to assault and destroy a drug den of the Red Sashes in the Dock's district, near the BDR's HQ. The BDRs approached the drug den from both the water and the streets. Sledge planted a bomb on the struts supporting the part of the building over-hanging the water, and detonated it as the rest of the crew knocked down the front door. At the same time, Malak called upon the deceased spirit of a great shelled sea-beast, whom he had attuned to prior to the assault. The beast began tearing up the building from underneath, while Haven and Slug engaged in combat with the Red Sashes guarding the drug den. Despite the significant martial prowess of the Iruvian-trained Red Sashes, the BDRs were able to overwhelm them, before looting what coin and product they could from the building before it collapsed into the water, with many of its drug-addled patrons still inside. The BDRs allowed a single Red Sash to leave to warn the rest of his gang. As the Spirit Wardens arrived to cleanup the mess of corpses left at the scene of the assault, the BDRs took time to themselves to relax after the adrenaline-filled events. Haven left to the Smoke Stack Tavern for a drink, and has now not been seen for several weeks. Sledge indulged in some of the product stolen from the Red Sashes, and while in a stupor was approached by the ghost of his long-dead daughter Sophia, suffering severe electrical burns as he fought off her attempt to possess him. Aldo was collected by some Bluecoats while examining wares by the docks, and was interrogated by Bluecoat Archivist Jeren as to the events at the drug den. Malak, meanwhile, left to find the company of the Reconciled, Salia. Session 2 (12/11/2018) While working to extract contraband from chair legs in the BDRs den, Slug discovers a note from the Dimmer Sisters - mysterious, rarely seen individuals known to meddle in the occult. The Sisters request the BDR's help in kidnapping Narcus Prichard, a sailor serving aboard the Leviathan hunter ship The Lord's Fury. Malak seeks out Salia's help in finding out information about Narcus, while Childemass heads to the Imperial ships' registry and manifest office to find out about the Fury's captain Nolan Highcrest. The Rats discover that Narcus has no known family, and that he keeps to himself, living in the lower levels of an abandoned tavern with drunkards and poor families. The Ratsobserve him going about his work re-fitting the Lord's Fury for the next Leviathan hunting season, and plan to lay in wait at his home for him to return from work. They are successful - and upon meeting Narcus in person, discover that he is in fact a Hollow, a living body with its soul removed. The placid Narcus is easily convinced to accompany the group, believing that they are acting on the orders of his captain. The Rats make their way through the depths of the sewers with the help of a suspicious Gondolier, who insists on accompanying them to their final destination, wishing to protect the mostly-helpless Hollow. Arriving at the exit of the sewer, near where they have been told to take Narcus, they are joined by a second Gondolier, a heavily-bearded man who has somehow been alerted to the current situation. Malak causes a distraction by destroying the electroplasmic lights lining the water's edge, while Wimble drops several smoke bombs, Slug attacks the Gondoliers, and Childemass runs off into the darkness with Narcus. Childemass makes the exchange at a bridge between the Docks and Brightstone, meeting a Cabbie driving a goat-driven carriage who takes Narcus aboard and gives Childemass the payment promised by the Sisters. The rest of the group meet up back at HQ. Looking for a new opportunity for the group, Malak decides to go and visit an old friend - a Vampire, Lord Scurlock, who Malak is able to reach through a network of ghost tunnels in the ghost field. After discussing recent events relating to the Crows, Scurlock offers the Rats a job to discover the fate of Roric - the old gang leader of the Crows - and a person of interest to Scurlock. The Rats break into the Horny Duck - a brothel run by the Crows - in secret, and overhear a conversation between the new gang leader Lyssa, and her second-in-command Bell, regarding gang member going missing near the canals. The Rats secure Lyssa's journal before escaping, and discover that Roric's ghost has been taking down Crow members in a crazed pattern of brutal revenge for his death, and that Lyssa has recruited the services of an ex-Rail Jack to track him down. Relaying this information to Scurlock, the Rats are tasked with retrieving Roric's ghost in a special spirit-bottle engraved with demonic runes, before the ghost is destroyed. Session 3 (26/11/2018) In order to track down Roric's ghost, Wimble makes contact with the Gondoliers to enlist their help. An Iruvian Gondolier promises to take the Rats to Roric, who has taken up residence in a remote part of the ancient canal system overrun by discarded hollows. In return, the Gondolier requests that the Rats retrieve a book recently acquired by the Dimmer Sisters - the Occultis Leviathanis Incorporia - from the abandoned manor house in Silkshore the Sisters are currently residing in. The Gondolier transports the Rats through the underground sewers to the ancient stone foundations of the manor house connecting to the under-basement. The Rats make their way into the house, encountering an arcanely-locked door, and the spirit of an old woman roaming the dark passages, who Malak traps in a spirit bottle. Making their way into the main area of the manor house, the Rats notice a coach from the Iruvian Consulate parked outside the house, and the muffle voices of Iruvian nobles and guards coming from the east wing. The rats split up to locate the library, which is under the watchful eye of an old and slightly-senile ghost of a dead librarian. Malak distracts the ghost, while Childemass sneaks past and manages to retrieve the ancient leather-bound book sitting on a dusty pedestal in the main reading area of the library. Upon seeing the book missing from the pedestal, the ghost of the librarian flies into a rage, raising the alarm throughout the manor. Slug and Wimble make for a window, smashing the glass and rapelling down the outer-wall of the manor, as several Iruvian swordsman - including a taller, hooded figure - move to intercept them. Childemass runs and finds a hiding-place in an abandoned bedroom, but wakes the restless spirit inhabitant, and is forced to flee out another window, an ends up trapped, perilously hanging from the old, swinging window shutter. Malak releases the previously-trapped spirit of the old woman, commanding her to attack the librarian, and the two obliterate each-other in a shower of electricity, lighting the dry and dusty contents of the library ablaze. Slug and Wimble attempt to use a crossbow to fire a rope up to Childemass for him to rapel down, but undershoot. Making a run for it, they meet up with the Iruvian Gondolier from earlier at the waters edge, who helps hold off the approaching Red Sashes. Wimble refuses to leave without Childemass, and re-enters the manor through a first-floor window. Malak escapes the burning library, forcing open an ancient ghost door to escape back to the Docks, but in the process is assaulted by the echoes of the thousands of spirits trapped in the manor, and blacks out. Childemass clambers back into the manor, and attempts to exit on the west side, but encounters one of the Dimmer Sisters on his way. Unable to resist her as she casts an arcane charm on him, Childemass is taken captive. Wimble glimpses him briefly being dragged away, as he is assaulted by a second sister, who places a palm on his forehead, burning a strange, arcane brand into his forehead as he blacks out - waking up later on the edge of a canal in the Docks. After these events, the Rats take some time to recover. They recruit a new member, Drawlight, and begin to make enquiries regarding Childemass's fate. A young street urchin-informant of Slug's is able to confirm that Childemass has *not* been taken by the Red Sashes, and must still be in the clutches of the Dimmer Sisters. Meanwhile, the Red Sashes begin to make moves in the Docks, re-establishing some of their old, abandoned hideouts. Wimble visits his two children Heath and London in their run-down housing, and is disturbed to discover that they have been left a basket of fine, exotic fruits by an Iruvian stranger. Taking the fruits back to his lab, Wimble discovers that some of the fruit has been poisoned with Jadeleaf - a rare poison that once ingested requires an antidote to be regularly administered to avoid death. Some of the other fruit has been laced with this antidote, and a message from the Red Sashes hidden amongst the fruits states that the Rats must not move against the Red Sashes - otherwise deliveries of the Jadeleaf antidote to Wimble's children will cease. Malak offers to take Wimble's children through the ghost door to Lord Scurlock's house in the Wasteland - and convinces Scurlock to care for the children temporarily. The others, meanwhile, lie in wait to ambush the next Red Sash delivery, and take a gang member prisoner. Wimble interrogates the Red Sash in a damp, disgusting stone room deep beneath the Rats hideout in the sewers, maiming the man's fingers and hands with gunpowder. With Slug and Drawlight's help, Wimble finds out the location of the Red Sash's hidden training temple, as well as information about a recent arrival to the hide-out - a Hull transported from Iruvia. Wimble allows the man to live, only so that he may be the subject of Wimble's experiments attempting to cure Heath of the Jadeleaf poisoning. Session 4 (9/12/2018) Haven returns, and explains his absence over the last few weeks - he was taken prisoner by Red Sashes who attacked him at the Smoke Stack, and was questioned by them about the the BDRs. While imprisoned, he is also questioned by an Imperial Investigator, who asks Haven for details about Lord Scurlock. Haven is left a single lock-pick by Petra, his sister, who is working as a personal assistant to the investigator. Haven is able to escape the Red Sash's temple, but on his way notices the Red Sash thugs being led in sword-drill by a humanoid Hull. Whilst waiting for Wimble's return (before assaulting the Red Sash temple), the BDRs decide to attend a party hosted by Lord and Lady Strathmill in their old, crumbling manor in Six Towers. Drawlight encounters an old aquaintance of his - Lady Polonia - who offers the BDRs a job to steal plans for an electroplasmic projector being developed by Senior Crafter Kristov Morriston, a sparkwright at Charterhall University. The BDRs agree, however on the way out, Slug is engaged in conversation by Bluecoat archivist Jeren, who offers the BDRs a competing job to instead, destroy the electroplasmic projector prototype, so that his investments in competing radiant energy farms ventures are not devalued. The BDRs decide to go against both parties, and warn Kristov of the dangers he is facing. They come up with a plan to destroy an eletro-rail train as it leaves for Wintercliff with a decoy prototype, while the original remains safely within Kristov's private workshop. The BDRs are able to infiltrate Gaddoc Rail Station, and place their explosive on-board the carriage containing the decoy prototype, leaving just as they hear the explosion from the train as it leaves Duskwall.